Introduction to the Potential Impact of E-Mobility on the Automotive Value Chain

The introduction chapter provides a bird’s eye view on the transforming mindset of private transportation which drives the development of EVs. Industry experts indicate that ICEs will be replaced by EVs, which is strongly driven by technological innovations, urbanization, policy makers, and by current mega trends. Getting from point A to B has become a matter of efficiency. With broad and flexible mobility opportunities nowadays customer preferences will change, which give new companies the chance to enter the automobile industry and challenge traditional car manufacturers. This will force traditional car manufacturers to adapt their value chain. This chapter derives the objective of this book by stating the four pivotal questions in order to answer the central question “how does e-mobility impact the automotive value chain of traditional automobile manufacturers?”. Additionally, it explains the research design used to answer the pivotal questions. Furthermore, the introduction is giving an overview of how expert interviews with well-known companies like KPMG and Deutsche Leasing as well as how valuable research reports from leading investment banks such as Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and UBS are used to answer the central question of this scientific research.